Entrepreneur, father, and interactive software developer.

Which Framework? Document to Interactive to Application

Since joining Sencha, I have been constantly asked to compare Sencha’s web frameworks to others. Truth is comparing frameworks really depends on the user experience you want to deliver and the resources available to deliver that experience. There is an infinite spectrum of experiences possible between Document to Interactive to Application and there is a parallel set of frameworks, boilerplate, scripts, libraries for every type experience possible. Name a web toolset and you can place it on the Document to Interactive to Application spectrum fairly easily.

Sencha’s frameworks sit at the far right of this spectrum on the Application use case and fade in purpose towards the Interactive center. While you can use Sencha to deliver interactive pages, documents, or mobile websites, our tools are really 100% geared towards professional developers building native-like application experiences with web technology. Sencha provides an object-oriented and component-based paradigm for building web applications for desktop and mobile. Here are some features of Sencha’s frameworks to make it clear what I am talking about:

While I would love it if everyone starting using Sencha frameworks, not every experience should use Sencha frameworks. I would strongly encourage you to learn and understand the diverse set of frameworks and options out there. I have learned a ton by trying out all the different web frameworks and understanding what types of experiences they best make. In many cases, their might be a better framework fit for the project you are building and you should explore your options. Most importantly get really specific about what type of experience you are creating:

Is it an application?

Is it interactive?

Is it media driven?

Is it a game?

Lots of pages without much interactivity?

Choose carefully, I keep seeing projects start with one framework only to watch the experience drive the chosen framework to its absolute limit. There is nothing worse than building on the wrong stack and having to refactor and rebuild with a framework switch. Make sure you know and understand the framework limitations and make sure the highest risk part of your experience is covered.

Now if you are building mobile or desktop applications experiences with web technology, we should chat. :)

On Tuesday 2/14, I will be presenting a webinar on Flex to Sencha which will focus on explaining the details of Sencha’s frameworks.